Dave Bruckenstein collaboration - 3 "Dots" Clocks in wood


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Guy Marsden
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David Bruckenstein
"Dots" Clocks in wood
4" diameter X 16" tall
February 2022

Maple, cherry and walnut clocks
showing 5:15 across the left 2 clocks (5 minutes per LED)
The default is a slowly fading LED at the bottom.

This is the 10th collaborative clock project that Dave and I have completed. These clocks are a wood version of the previous "Dots" clock which was constructed of aluminum rather than wood. Dave has always wanted to give his three adult children one of his clocks each and this design felt like the right choice.

There is a default mode where a white LED fades up and down very slowly at the bottom of the white translucent section. If you wave your hand anywhere near the top - or just touch the brass circle - it "wakes up" and starts displaying time by lighting up LEDs in sequence from the bottom. First it shows the number of hours, and then after a brief pause the number of minutes in five minute increments. So for instance, to show a time of 3:20 it would first light 3 LEDs, pause and then light 4 LEDs.

I began the project by acquiring appropriate pieces of wood. I had some nice maple that had been sitting around in my shop for 20 years waiting for the right project and my friend John had cherry and walnut that that also been sitting around in his workshop for years. While the maple was a solid chunk 4 inches thick, I had to glue up the cherry and walnut to achieve the 4 inch diameter for the bases of these clocks. I then carefully turned each chunk of wood down to a 4 inch diameter.

There is a beautiful knot in the cherry wood that we decided to feature on the front. Hollowing the insides was a lot of work because it is more challenging to cut into end grain on a wood lathe. It also required precision turning to make the relief for the top edge where the acrylic slides onto the wood bases.

On my milling machine I drilled holes for the pushbuttons and DC power jack. I used the precision of this machine to ensure that all the clocks would be nearly identical.

On my metal lathe I turned the lids to be sure they fit onto the acrylic tube precisely. Then I made small brass inserts for the touch sensors, a wire attaches to the inside via a screw.

After inserting and gluing in the breast touch sensors, I surfaced the whole top on the metal lathe to flatten it. I finished the 3 housings with a few coats of satin wipe-on poly.

I made bottom panels from smoke acrylic with a clear bracket to hold the circuit board. Three small screws secure the bottom panel in place and allow it to be removed to replace the backup coin battery for the real-time clock. Three rubber feet give it a good balance.

I designed custom circuit boards for these three clocks that include a backup battery for the real-time clock and the touch sensor module. I was able to repurpose the firmware from the previous aluminum "Dots" clock with a few minor tweaks.

Above left are all of the components. Final assembly took place on my electronics workbench where I mounted the circuit boards and wired up the controls and tested everything carefully.

Here are the three completed clocks in cherry, maple and walnut. The silver buttons allow you to set an hour and minutes.

As with each of these projects, I get to live with the final product for a few days before I ship it off to Dave in North Carolina.

Visit Dave's web site:
DAB's Clocks

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Maple, cherry and walnut clocks showing 5:15 across the left 2 clocks (5 minutes per LED) The default is a slowly fading LED at the bottom.

This is the 10th collaborative clock project that Dave and I have completed. These clocks are a wood version of the previous "Dots" clock which was constructed of aluminum rather than wood. Dave has always wanted to give his three adult children one of his clocks each and this design felt like the right choice. There is a default mode where a white LED fades up and down very slowly at the bottom of the white translucent section. If you wave your hand anywhere near the top - or just touch the brass circle - it "wakes up" and starts displaying time by lighting up LEDs in sequence from the bottom. First it shows the number of hours, and then after a brief pause the number of minutes in five minute increments. So for instance, to show a time of 3:20 it would first light 3 LEDs, pause and then light 4 LEDs.

I began the project by acquiring appropriate pieces of wood. I had some nice maple that had been sitting around in my shop for 20 years waiting for the right project and my friend John had cherry and walnut that that also been sitting around in his workshop for years. While the maple was a solid chunk 4 inches thick, I had to glue up the cherry and walnut to achieve the 4 inch diameter for the bases of these clocks. I then carefully turned each chunk of wood down to a 4 inch diameter.

There is a beautiful knot in the cherry wood that we decided to feature on the front. Hollowing the insides was a lot of work because it is more challenging to cut into end grain on a wood lathe. It also required precision turning to make the relief for the top edge where the acrylic slides onto the wood bases.

On my milling machine I drilled holes for the pushbuttons and DC power jack. I used the precision of this machine to ensure that all the clocks would be nearly identical.

On my metal lathe I turned the lids to be sure they fit onto the acrylic tube precisely. Then I made small brass inserts for the touch sensors, a wire attaches to the inside via a screw.

After inserting and gluing in the breast touch sensors, I surfaced the whole top on the metal lathe to flatten it. I finished the 3 housings with a few coats of satin wipe-on poly.
		I made bottom panels from smoke acrylic with a clear bracket to hold the circuit board. Three small screws secure the bottom panel in place and allow it to be removed to replace the backup coin battery for the real-time clock. Three rubber feet give it a good balance.

		I designed custom circuit boards for these three clocks that include a backup battery for the real-time clock and the touch sensor module. I was able to repurpose the firmware from the previous aluminum "Dots" clock with a few minor tweaks.

Above left are all of the components. Final assembly took place on my electronics workbench where I mounted the circuit boards and wired up the controls and tested everything carefully.

Here are the three completed clocks in cherry, maple and walnut. The silver buttons allow you to set an hour and minutes. As with each of these projects, I get to live with the final product for a few days before I ship it off to Dave in North Carolina.